FDR assasinated in February of 1933

On February 15th, 1933, in Miami, Florida, the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak was shot by Giuseppe Zangara. Cermak was in the car with FDR when the gun was fired. It is unknown who the real target of the assasination was, Cermak or Roosevelt. I personally think it was Cermak because he was an expert marksman in the Italian army, and very capable of hitting his target.

Anycase, what if he also hit shot FDR(and killed him)? What kind of constitutional crisis would come from this? A President Elect has never been killed before. What would happen? How would this effect the US politically? Would there be a New Deal or anything similar?
 
President Garner instead of FDR
vladtepesaward.jpg
 
The Libertarians are gonna storm in here and call it economic utopia.

Anyway, Garner becomes POTUS, which is a nightmare for anyone who voted for FDR for FDR. Garner was a Dixiecrat, anti-progressive, anti-New Dealer who was only on the ticket to balance it. Expect no government aid programs more extreme than anything done by Hoover, and probable loss in the upcoming election either to an insurgent Democrat or progressive Republican due to a hostile public as a result of lack of action.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Isn't this the POD for The Man in the High Castle?
Yes, but the consequences of that scenario pretty out there.

Anyways, yeah, the US is fucked six ways from Sunday. The New Deal and gearing up for WWII is what saved the US economy. With the lack of relief programs and moves towards economic stabilization, American politics are going to be warped. I would not be at all surprised if both far-Leftist and far-Right movements cropped up. Communism and populist agrarian socialism will likely become huge, especially in the West while fascist movements spring up and likely get united under somebody like Huey Long (who might actually use "compassionate" fascism, if that makes sense :eek:).

Anyways, things are just going to go down the drain since Republicans aren't going to do jack squat and the Democrats probably won't have enough clout due to the disillusionment with Garner and continued Dixiecrat idiocy. I could see both major parties splitting as various wings get more radical.

I think that there is a very real threat of civil war/civil insurrection in this scenario. Some far-right strongman would likely take charge of the government while leftist/populist insurrections riddle cities and the Great Plains.

One thing's for sure; it'll all be a mess.
 

Thande

Donor
Yes, but the consequences of that scenario pretty out there.


In retrospect it is, but I think one has to view it as a product of its time (and the mind of Philip K. Dick of course). It was the early Sixties, when anything seemed possible: men in space, big megaprojects and so on. Basically Dick just took that zeitgeist, turned it up to eleven with Nazi techwank and then turned it dark.

All the same, it would be interesting to see a more measured modern look at the consequences of FDR's death. One shouldn't forget that a lot of what we know now about say German or Japanese relative strength in the war (i.e., they couldn't have conquered the USA) wouldn't have been available to a writer in 1962. And we at least have to credit Dick with putting in an early POD, which makes it much easier to justify spectacular Nazi victories than when you try and pull a Nazi victory from within the constraints of a recognisable WW2 (i.e. no POD before September 1939).
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
In retrospect it is, but I think one has to view it as a product of its time (and the mind of Philip K. Dick of course). It was the early Sixties, when anything seemed possible: men in space, big megaprojects and so on. Basically Dick just took that zeitgeist, turned it up to eleven with Nazi techwank and then turned it dark.

All the same, it would be interesting to see a more measured modern look at the consequences of FDR's death. One shouldn't forget that a lot of what we know now about say German or Japanese relative strength in the war (i.e., they couldn't have conquered the USA) wouldn't have been available to a writer in 1962. And we at least have to credit Dick with putting in an early POD, which makes it much easier to justify spectacular Nazi victories than when you try and pull a Nazi victory from within the constraints of a recognisable WW2 (i.e. no POD before September 1939).
Oh, I'm not trying to discredit Dick at all! I loved the book and understand the period he was writing in and the lack of information regarding the military capabilities of the Axis. I meant the consequences of his scenario look out there from our perspective. :)
 

Macragge1

Banned
My worry is that, when they do this Man in the High Castle miniseries for the BBC, they look for a 'sexier' POD than some fairly obscure assassination attempt. I reckon they may well (espec. given it's a British series) use losing in the battle of britain and subsequent succesful Sealion (hey-hey) to justify the changed world.
 
The Libertarians are gonna storm in here and call it economic utopia.

I consider myself a libertarian. This is going to be an economic nightmare. We can expect the US government to keep massively intervening in the economy on the side of Capital, with no interventions on the side of Labor to balance it out as we got under FDR.

The USA is going to go straight to shit in this scenario. A socialist revolution, hopefully more along the lines of Spain's than Russia's, is probably America's best hope.
 
Top